His Majesty's Nautical Almanac Office (HMNAO), now part of the

United Kingdom Hydrographic Office The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) is the UK's agency for providing hydrographic and marine geospatial data to mariners and maritime organisations across the world. The UKHO is a trading fund of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and is ...

, was established in 1832 on the site of the

Royal Observatory, Greenwich The Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG; known as the Old Royal Observatory from 1957 to 1998, when the working Royal Greenwich Observatory, RGO, temporarily moved south from Greenwich to Herstmonceux) is an observatory situated on a hill in Gre ...

(ROG), where ''

The Nautical Almanac ''The Nautical Almanac'' has been the familiar name for a series of official British almanacs published under various titles since the first issue of ''The Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris'', for 1767: this was the first nautical alm ...

'' had been published since 1767. HMNAO produces astronomical data for a wide range of users, such as astronomers, mariners, aviators, surveyors, the military, police, lawyers, religious groups, architects, schools, diary and calendar manufacturers, photographers and film crews. In 1937, it became part of ROG and moved with it, when it moved away from Greenwich (and was renamed the Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO)) first to

Herstmonceux Castle Herstmonceux Castle is a brick-built castle, dating from the 15th century, near Herstmonceux, East Sussex, England. It is one of the oldest significant brick buildings still standing in England. The castle was renowned for being one of the fi ...

, near

Hailsham Hailsham is a town, a civil parish and the administrative centre of the Wealden district of East Sussex, England.OS Explorer map Eastbourne and Beachy Head Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Dat ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

in 1948, then to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

in 1990. When the RGO closed in 1998 HMNAO was transferred to the

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) is one of the national scientific research laboratories in the UK operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). It began as the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory, merged with the At ...

, near Abingdon in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

. In December 2006, HMNAO was transferred to the

, which is based in

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

Leaders of HMNAO

Superintendents of the Nautical Almanac

* Thomas Young (1818–1829)

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and

polymath A polymath or polyhistor is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge, ...

John Pond John Pond FRS (1767 – 7 September 1836) was an English astronomer who became the sixth Astronomer Royal, serving from 1811 to 1835. Early life Pond was born in 1767, in London. Pond's father made a fortune as a London merchant, enabling ...

(1829–1831)

Astronomer Royal Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the astronomer royal dating from 22 June 1675; the junior is the astronomer royal for Scotland dating from 1834. The Astro ...

* W. S. Stratford (1831–1853) set up a central bureaucracy to replace the system of home-based

human computer The term "computer", in use from the early 17th century (the first known written reference dates from 1613), meant "one who computes": a person performing mathematical calculations, before electronic calculators became available. Alan Turing ...

s *

John Russell Hind John Russell Hind FRS FRSE LLD (12 May 1823 – 23 December 1895) was an English astronomer. Life and work John Russell Hind was born in 1823 in Nottingham, the son of lace manufacturer John Hind and Elizabeth Russell, and was educated at ...

(1853–1891) discovered a number of

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

s in the earlier part of his career *

A. M. W. Downing Arthur Matthew Weld Downing (13 April 1850 – 8 December 1917) was an Anglo-Irish mathematician and astronomer. Downing's major contribution to astronomy is in the calculation of the positions and movements of astronomical bodies, as we ...

(1891–1910) * Philip Herbert Cowell (1910–1930) best remembered for his work with

Andrew Crommelin Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin (6 February 1865 – 20 September 1939) was an astronomer of French and Huguenot descent who was born in Cushendun, County Antrim, Ireland. He was educated in England at Marlborough College and Trinity Co ...

on the calculation of the orbit of

Halley's Comet Halley's Comet is the only known List of periodic comets, short-period comet that is consistently visible to the naked eye from Earth, appearing every 72–80 years, though with the majority of recorded apparitions (25 of 30) occurring after ...

by numerical integration, in preparation for its return in 1910 *

Leslie Comrie Leslie John Comrie FRS (15 August 1893 – 11 December 1950) was an astronomer and a pioneer in mechanical computation. Life Leslie John Comrie was born in Pukekohe (south of Auckland), New Zealand, on 15 August 1893. He attended Auckland U ...

(1930–1936) a pioneer of numerical computation *

Donald Sadler Donald Harry Sadler (1908–1987) was an English astronomer and mathematician who developed an international reputation for his work in preparing astronomical and navigational almanacs. He worked as the Superintendent of His Majesty's Nautical ...

(1936–1970) *George A. Wilkins (1970–1989) *Bernard D. Yallop (1989–1996)

Heads of HM Nautical Almanac Office

*Andrew T. Sinclair (1996–1998) *Patrick T. Wallace (1998–2006) *Stephen A. Bell (2006–present)

Publications

*''The Astronomical Almanac'' (jointly with the

United States Naval Observatory The United States Naval Observatory (USNO) is a scientific and military facility that produces geopositioning, navigation and timekeeping data for the United States Navy and the United States Department of Defense. Established in 1830 as the ...

) *''The

Nautical Almanac A nautical almanac is a publication describing the positions of a selection of celestial bodies for the purpose of enabling navigators to use celestial navigation to determine the position of their ship while at sea. The Almanac specifies for ea ...

'' (jointly with the USNO) *''Astronomical Phenomena'' (jointly with the USNO) *''The Star Almanac'' *''The UK Air Almanac'' *''Rapid Sight Reduction Tables for Navigation'' *''Planetary and Lunar Coordinates''

External links

HMNAO websiteHMNAO on gov.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hm Nautical Almanac Office Almanacs Government agencies established in 1832 Organisations based in Taunton National hydrographic offices 1832 establishments in the United Kingdom Royal Navy Admiralty departments Royal Observatory, Greenwich